A Quick Summary of our\u00a0Findings:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n- 2016 was the worst year on record for complaints, but 2017 is on track to beat that<\/li>\n
- Tickets were up 31.2% from 831 in 2015 to 1,090 in 2016<\/li>\n
- March is the busiest month<\/li>\n
- Mondays are the busiest days, followed closely by Tuesday, Wednesday<\/li>\n
- Neighborhoods with a higher proportion of owner-occupied housing (less rentals) complain more<\/li>\n
- West Englewood gets the most complaints, followed by West Pullman<\/li>\n
- The Near North Side gets the least complaints, followed by The Loop<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Why Complain?<\/h2>\n
The more obvious reason, is of course, it stinks! It’s gross to look at, and even worse to smell and especially to step in. Less obviously, dog waste is a primary source of food for rodents. One could make a case that rats are even more disgusting than dog poop, since they carry diseases and reproduce. The official note from the city regarding these types of violations is simply “Dog Feces in Yard”. This may refer to someone complaining about the smell coming from a neighbor’s yard or that someone else’s dog’s poop is in their yard. It’s such a big deal that some have even gone to drastic measures<\/a> like DNA testing the poop to prove whose dog it came from.<\/p>\nWhere to Watch Out<\/h2>\n
One might think there’s no science in poop complaints, but we found a lot of interesting trends. The first thing we noticed were correlations between neighborhood and the number of complaints. Neighborhoods further from downtown had a significantly higher number of complaints. This can be seen in the map below.<\/i><\/p>\n
Darker shaded areas have higher concentrations of poop complaints.<\/b> To rank fairly, we normalized complaints by the number of households in a neighborhood, according to the most recent Census data available<\/a>. This allows us to fairly compare one neighborhood to another, because one would assume that an area with more apartments will also have more complaints, and this will correct that. We also removed duplicate complaints, so repeated same day callers about the same poop won’t tilt the data.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-13-at-6.34.07-PM-150x150.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
Why Complain?<\/h2>\n
The more obvious reason, is of course, it stinks! It’s gross to look at, and even worse to smell and especially to step in. Less obviously, dog waste is a primary source of food for rodents. One could make a case that rats are even more disgusting than dog poop, since they carry diseases and reproduce. The official note from the city regarding these types of violations is simply “Dog Feces in Yard”. This may refer to someone complaining about the smell coming from a neighbor’s yard or that someone else’s dog’s poop is in their yard. It’s such a big deal that some have even gone to drastic measures<\/a> like DNA testing the poop to prove whose dog it came from.<\/p>\n One might think there’s no science in poop complaints, but we found a lot of interesting trends. The first thing we noticed were correlations between neighborhood and the number of complaints. Neighborhoods further from downtown had a significantly higher number of complaints. This can be seen in the map below.<\/i><\/p>\n Darker shaded areas have higher concentrations of poop complaints.<\/b> To rank fairly, we normalized complaints by the number of households in a neighborhood, according to the most recent Census data available<\/a>. This allows us to fairly compare one neighborhood to another, because one would assume that an area with more apartments will also have more complaints, and this will correct that. We also removed duplicate complaints, so repeated same day callers about the same poop won’t tilt the data.Where to Watch Out<\/h2>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n